I am going to change my oil myself on my Protege 5 2002 for the first time today. Any tips? I have done it before on other cars. Just wondering if this car might have some challenges.
As long as you can reach the drain plug and the filter it shouldn’t be any different than the other vehicles you’ve worked on.
Oil changes are more or less the same thing from one car to another. Sometimes the filter can be a pain in the butt to reach, don’t know if that’s the case on your particular car.
Like always, be sure the old gasket comes off with the old filter, and oil up the gasket on the new one before installing. You could always consult a Haynes or Chilton’s repair manual if you want, but I can’t imagine there’s anything crazy about it.
Before posting I checked to be sure it was not one of those newfangled cartridge filters. It isn’t. It’s normal. There will be no special challenges.
The world is getting too complicated for me.
Thanks for the help. If I discover anything odd I will post my notes.
After doing another search I found the shop manual here for Protege 5 :
Looks pretty straightforward.
One thing though; if I’m not mistaken, it says to use an oil filter wrench to install the filter. I think this is a bad idea as it could easily lead to overtightening the filter and creating a leak. Instead I’d suggest seating the filter and then hand-tightening it another 1/2 to 3/4 turn.
I emphatically agree. I use a disposable latex glove for better grip and lube the filter threads and the gasket. I also clean the mating surface before putting the new filter on. That forces me to be sure the old gasket isn’t still stuck there, sort of like a second check.
As you can see in this image the oil filter is easy to get to on the Protege 5 2.0 2002…
The oil change went fine. Really easy to get to the oil filter. That is what I was most nervous about.
Thanks for your help.
Thanks for the tip. I had planned on all of the above. Seems to have work well.
Rick